Jackie Ashley has a gushing interview with Gordon in the Guardian this morning where we learn that he really loves being called Prime Minister* and that

“Brown believes the days of political parties as ‘small organisations of people who are accused of talking to themselves’ are over. In future, constituency parties will become local hubs, building links with other networks and groups, and using new technology to reach out way beyond their usual supporters… There are so many different forms of communication – writing, phoning, the internet – at the moment we’re not doing enough to keep people informed and to show people that when they have a view, we’re prepared to listen to them.”

Over at GordonBrown.Org, free from civil service restrictions, and even the old clunking party bureaucracy, he shows us the actual proof of the sincerity of his internet “engagement agenda”.

How is he doing at keeping people informed about his exciting campaign-hub-network-thingy for Britain? Well their feeble copy of the original Where’s Gordon?™has only 4 reports of his whereabouts in 20 days, the original managed daily updates. The thousands of votes for a discussion on the NHS are ignored, there is no discussion. The whole site is as dead as wooden rocking horse, it is an ex-listening, ex-campaigning website. His whole “engaging online” guff is all bullshit, he doesn’t need to win votes so the whole need to engage is just tiresome. Guido knows WebCameron and WebGordon is no WebCameron.

Gordon now has no need to listen, no need to engage, no need to win a mandate from his party or the wider electorate. He will assume power and we will just have to lump it.

*In under a month the preciousss will be his, the sun will be darkened across the land and the English will be cursed with a new Scottish tyranny. Probably.

Guido has loaded up his Betfair account with cash in the hope that the Newsnight debate could be decisive one way or another in this race. Will try to figure not the merit of the arguments, not even how voters in the Labour electoral college will respond, but how other gamblers will interpret events. Despite having explained this many times, gambling on a beauty contest (like this) is not about figuring out who is the prettiest girl, but who the judges will think is the prettiest girl. Good luck..

Intros hardly move the market.

Head-to-head is more of a side-by-side format.

Lots of flannel on the Iraq issue.

Promises from Harman of an end to spin.

No real move in the betting markets, Paxo demands yes/no answers. Cruddas says no to Trident and charitable schools. So that stakes him out on the left.

Guido is still reeling from the news that the grandson of the socialist Viscount Stansgate has a large portfolio of stock market investments. Now he discovers that his campaign is backed by the profiteering of international capital. Hedge fund manager Gilad Hayeem of Lehman Brothers backed Marble Bar Asset Management (Cayman) has contributed £5,000 to Hilary Benn’s campaign (slogan “voice of the grassroots”). Tony Benn wanted to nationalise top banks, his son takes campaign donations from them.

Guido can personally vouch for the rum nature of these hedgie types. Still trying to figure out if this is a case of a capitalist financing the rope to hang himself, or of a socialist selling out. With a billion dollars under management Gilad can spare the cash. However, how idealistic Benn backers will view his campaign being financed indirectly by investors in Erongo Energy – a uranium miner in Namibia with interests in oil – is hard to say. All ethical presumably…

When he heard that Graham Brady had resigned over Tory grammar school policy and that he had four grammar schools in his consituency, he presumed it was a marginal seat and that this was a move to boost his local support. Checking, Guido sees he tripled his majority at the last election, after nearly doubling it the election before. Guido can be too cynical. Resigning on a point of principle and in the interests of his constitutents’ children? Halting his front-bench career? Guido wonders if Graham Brady is really cut out for modern politics…

Guido understands that Benn has 29 constituency nominations sewn up so far, nearly double his nearest rival. Those that think the union bosses could swing it for Johnson forget that the affiliated socialist societies will probably go the same way as the constituencies. Still a chance he could get whacked by Paxo on Newsnight later…

Guido is sure that when Boris publicly disagreed with party policy and went off-message, Dave was challenged to sack him, he retorted that the Conservatives “welcomed debate” and “were not control freaks like New Labour” etcetera. Dave isn’t welcoming policy debate from Graham Brady, he is sacking him.

He not only has the wrong view on schools, he went to the wrong school..

Quote of the Day

“I read more bloggers now than mainstream columnists, because they’ve got more interesting things to say. Too many columnists today make you think, ‘Yeah, I think you’ve said that 10 times before and I’ve just noticed your column has not go a single fact in it’”.